Speechless Words
by Detail
Summary: It's known that the island the Arcana Famiglia lives on is subject to pirate attacks. Though the pirates that attack them now aren't the ruthless vagabonds that usually make up their numbers. Rated T because I'm very prone to cussing. Disclaimer: I don't own La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia.
1. Chapter 1

"So tell me, why did you think it was a good idea to sail here and cause a riot in my town? Much less making your prisoners sick and locking up children with them?"

I had nothing to say.

"…"

The man with slicked back auburn hair scratched his scruffy beard with a tired look. He was obviously a leader here with the very distinguishing white coat that differed from the black uniforms surrounding me. His piercings looked like four on each ear from what I could see through my mud and sweat streaked locks.

With my silence, the man sighed and asked:

"Felicita, would you take a look at this 'Captain's' heart?"

A young girl that couldn't have been any older than I was, came into my sight from the left. She had hair matching the man and soft green eyes, wore a blazer with tie, short skirt, thigh high socks, heeled boots, all in black, with the exclusion of her top shirt and a glove just on her left arm. She answered:

"Yes Papa."

Look into my heart? What did that entail? With that, the green gaze was trained on me, analyzing something… As if I'd let a stranger ever take a look at something so personal. An image of me slamming a door in her face passed through my mind briefly. A look of offence appeared on her face, but was quickly replaced by an emotionless calm as she answered this "Papa":

"I can't look, this person has their feelings locked up tight."

Damn straight. … Why did I even think that, she had to be a con artist. Unfazed, I continued to stare down their leader. So long as I didn't say anything, everyone else would be alright. Didn't matter what happened to me…

Trying a new way to get under my skin, he said:

"As terrible as you must have been to those people, I'll have you know that we won't let a single one of them die thanks to the likes of you."

They wouldn't let anyone die…? Heh. No matter how hard I tried to hide my expression, the corners of my mouth still went up ever so slightly. Everyone was safe… If I disappeared now, it wouldn't matter. They were all safe…

For a brief second, I felt as if something was burning a hole through the side of my head. Taking a quick look, I saw what I'm now guessing was the ringleader's daughter. She was staring at me with the oddest expression. I think it was surprise. I thought rather bitterly: "_What did she have to be surprised about?_" Another expression of offence crossed her face. Whatever, wasn't like I cared.

The ring leader muttered:

"Tch, still not budging…"

Never. Unfortunately, someone else was. A quick knock on the door drew the attention away from me for a moment. The head spoke:

"Come in."

The door creaked open in response, followed by a thud. Turning myself to see who it was, I saw Bruce. What was that thick-headed butcher here for!? Lifting up his chubby face, he gave me a nervous laugh and said:

"Sorry Captain. I was never suited for stuff like this…"

He cracked. And only after three days too… *sigh* He probably heard about how everyone was being treated, and spilled his guts then. Even with everyone safe, that didn't change the fact we were still criminals. We needed punishment.

Behind Bruce, another kid like the girl from earlier walked in. He had deep blue hair, and a piercing look of matching color. His uniform seemed to be even better made than the others, though had two differences, one being a belt with a silver buckle and a blue tie. There was also a thin, eastern styled sword at his side, but everyone probably had a weapon of sorts on them. That didn't count. He said:

"Papa, you need to hear what's going on."

Soon, Bruce and I had been moved to what was probably a conference room. The desk chairs were actually quite comfy, but I couldn't really enjoy them much with my hands tied behind my back. After Papa was seated at the circular table, I was placed directly across from him and Bruce sat by my side, sweating bullets which seemed to only further matt his greasy black hair. Nervously glancing between me and Papa, the boy from earlier said:

"Tell them what you told me."

Ignoring the kid, I looked to Bruce trying to convey the phrase: "_What _did_ you tell them?_". Due to the amount of time we've spent together, along with everyone else crammed onto the ship, talking was hardly necessary for communication anymore. He disregarded the kid and answered:

"Well, ah, what I tolds em was that we attacked tha island so theys would take care of everyone on tha cursed ship."

A dumbstruck look made itself at home on my face, and Bruce muttered aloud:

"You mades it sound so much better on paper…"

Clearly, I needed to be the one to explain. Even the kid said:

"As you can see, even those who were in on this plan don't seem to entirely understand it…"

The room was still quiet, and Papa whispered something to one of the underlings. Eventually all eyes were back on me, and Papa asked:

"So would you explain to us _how_ that makes sense?"

Not speaking, I looked to Bruce to get him to say what I couldn't. He got it instantly:

"You needs to get somethin for Captain to writes with. Since 'e don't talk, that's tha only way we can communicate da more complicated things to each other."

Thinking, Papa raised a hand and said:

"You heard the man. Get the Captain something to write with."

A pen and paper soon appeared before me, but my hands were still tied. I poked Bruce in the arm with my elbow and tried to wiggle my hands as best I could. He nodded and said:

"Lest ya plan on havin tha Captain writing with 'is mouth, someone needs to cut them ropes."

Papa looked surprised for a second, before realizing:

"Oh, your kid for a captain sits so still, I didn't realize his hands were still knotted up. Nova, if you will."

The blue haired kid, Nova, nodded. As he was walking around the table, I kept a close eye on him. He seemed kind of edgy to me, even though the kid was relaxed. My eyes never left him, especially when he was cutting the ropes on my hands. I didn't want him to make a "mistake", though he never did. The ropes had been tied so tightly that they made a quick snapping sound when they came off. Another thing to indicate that was how stiff my hands felt. That wasn't an impediment to my writing though. Everything was in the wrist, but that didn't mean I should ignore my health for the few seconds it would take to make sure my hands were okay. In that time, Papa said:

"I suppose that means you weren't being quiet out of stubbornness for the past few days then. An apology is in order I guess…"

I shook my head quickly before writing quickly, and admittedly, somewhat messily:

"_No apology is deserved. I was being quiet because I wanted to, not because you were interrogating me._"

Upon looking at the parchment, Papa was quite surprised. Suddenly laughing, he laughed and said:

"Well aren't you a tough one. You could be put in the squatting position with a heavy weight in your lap and still not move a muscle to save yourself, I'm guessing."

A bit more smoothly this time, I wrote:

"_You could try anything you wanted, I wouldn't squeal._"

Before I could give Papa the note, Bruce saw it and sputtered:

"Wa-wa-wha are ya d-doin Captain!? Are ye tryin to gets yerself injured!?"

Sliding the note to Papa, I wrote to Bruce:

"_It's called showing backbone. Something you lack._"

This shocked Bruce pretty well. So bad, he started to get an attitude:

"W-well I dun have to take crap froms some 15-year-old brat mis-!"

Not letting him continue, I wrote in a hurry:

"_You have no place to talk to me like that. Last time I checked, almost everyone on the ship was little more than skin and bones, myself included. You're still a fat man that could afford to skip a few meals. Some other people on the ship brought this up too. However, you are still human and helped out with food a great deal, so I ignored them. Now that we don't have that worry anymore, why don't you tell me why I shouldn't have let those men steal whatever food you were hoarding for yourself?_"

After using up a few slips of paper, Bruce paled and squeaked:

"You knew…?"

Pinching his chubby face, I held up the note:

"_This__ tells me everything I need to know, which is more than I can say for you._"

Quiet now, Bruce sat quietly, not even daring himself to try and be superior to me for something as trivial as age. Papa and a few others were reading through the now discarded pieces of paper. With a surprised look on his face, Papa then laughed and said:

"I can see why you're the Captain now. However-"

Getting a far more serious expression on his face, he continued:

"-, the initial question of _why _you attacked the island has yet to be answered."

Okay then. Gearing myself up for a mini novel, I wrote:

-Flashback-

"_Here's what we do. We attack the island to draw attention to ourselves. The people come instantly, and then they drag us away. If you can't escape, try to put up a fight before going down, but don't injure anyone too badly and don't to kill them either._"

A little confused one of the crewmates, Emi, raised her hand. I motioned for her to speak:

"I'm confused as to why we need to do this Captain. Why not just ask the people for help?"

I explained:

"_As preferable as that is, we can't. If we asked for help, that would mean we would have to pay for the hospital bills and even before the pirates raided out village, we didn't have much money…_ _In our current states too, we would die from working before we could even make enough money to feed ourselves. It's a virtual no-win situation._"

Someone else asked:

"What if they're nice?"

Many people snorted at that, but I managed to restrain myself. I wrote:

"_We don't know that. Chances are though, they're like most ego-centered towns and they'll let us starve if they're not paid._"

There was a resounding silence in the crowd. I explained what would happen if everything went according to plan:

"_The town's motivation in subsequently helping us is that it'll look like they're fending off a bunch of evil pirates and saving people mistreated by them to boot._"

Another person asked:

"What about those who attack the town?"

I was very hesitant about writing what would happen to us, but they had a right to know what was going to happen. This whole situation concerned everyone:

"_We… may not survive. Even if we're only captured, there's no guarantee we'll survive. After the first phase, the plan then is to have those that are being treated work to get the rest out of the prison if they're still alive. Those who escape and are treated should meet up in the main part of the town. If we're lucky, in the end, we may be able to make our way in the town and eventually go back home. This is the only thing I can think of…_"

Having second thoughts about my plan now, I started to write something else:

"_I'm sorry. If everyone goes along with this plan, people are probably going to end up dying but I don't know how we'll be able to get everyone through this alive with any type of guarantee!_"

My handwriting was getting more frantic and difficult to read as I went along:

"_If everyone is able to get out of this by pinning the whole mess on me, please do it! I don't want aNy Moore of mIY famELy dO di-_"

With the splotches of water appearing on the paper, one of the adults, Marlene, came up to wipe my face. With kind brown eyes, she said:

"Stop Levi. You've done a lot already. Thanks to you memorizing those books smarty-pants, we managed to avoid the worst of the worst out here. I'm not going to sugar coat anything though. At the rate things are going, none of us will make it anyway. If there's any guarantee that some of us will be able to make it with your plan, I'm all for it. Besides, there is a chance for _everyone_ to make it if we follow through with this plan, right?"

Hesitant, I wrote the answer:

"_The chances are exceedingly slim, but it exists._"

"Then I say, let's go for it!"

The crowd seemed to roar to life when they heard the answer. With that, everyone buzzed with work and preparing for the mock invasion. Noticing my still depressed face, Marlene said:

"What'cha looking all sad about sweetie? Everyone here has friends and family that they're willing to risk their lives for. In fact, each of us has as much reason to do this as the next. We're all in the same boat here, and we're sticking together. Don't expect me to pin this mess on you just because it makes it easier on me."

I perked up a little bit, but was still depressed. Not letting me go until I was 100% cheerful, Marlene added:

"If your father was still here, I'm sure he would try to pin the whole mess on himself instead. Especially for his little girl."

Heh. I was a lot like my father, wasn't I? I just wish he hadn't gotten himself sick before the pirates came… Shaking nasty thoughts away from my head, I wrote some more:

"_I have one last request of everyone._"

"Oh? And what's that dearie?"

"_I'm a boy until we're able to leave together. Even good towns place men above women. They wouldn't acknowledge me as a captain even if I was leading the charge. I'd just be property for the taking._"

Not liking what I was asking, Marlene scowled. However, she eventually nodded and said:

"I'll spread the word then. Mister Levi."

-End Flashback-

In amazement Papa looked between me and the story. The one that didn't include Marlene and I's little motivation and gender chat. Someone else said:

"Impressive."

Surprised, I looked around the room for the unknown voice. A man with black hair and sunglasses appeared behind Papa. He held a cigar between his gloved fingers, the front of his uniform jacket sloppily open to show a blue shirt and white tie. Strange vibes seem to come from him, I didn't like them. Apparently he was the one who had said something earlier, judging from the voice:

"By attacking the village and making yourselves look like criminals, we had to check the boat you were on from top to bottom. When we found the sick people, there was no choice for us but to take them in. Otherwise, we'd look like criminals too. No matter how you look at it, we have to look after them for the time being."

I wrote:

"_You're just paraphrasing what I said._"

A little surprised at what I responded with, he said:

"Hm? Is there something you want to say about it?"

"_Not really, I just think if you're trying to sound smart, that's a rather stupid way to do it._"

Before I raised the note to everyone, Bruce grabbed my hand. He whispered:

"I don't like the looks of the guy. Quit while you're ahead."

Oh would you shut up already Bruce? I'm the one who's stuck writing out everything here, I have to think about everything more than anyone. Also, I don't lack a spine like you severely do. Swatting his hand away, I held up the paper. A few people seemed to gasp, but the shifty guy just seemed to chuckle. I wonder why everyone was surprised with me. The best way to get a point across is to be blunt, and I had no reason to hide my opinion. This weird guy did ask for it. He said:

"You're an interesting one."

"_One what?_"

Thinking about his answer, the man said:

"Possible test subject."

Hmm…

"_So you're one of those creepy scientist types?_"

After I wrote that, no-one even looked mildly surprised. The dude must have went above and beyond on that for even family to think that phrase a statement. He answered:

"I guess you could say that."

Good to know I should avoid him. However, it didn't look like they were inclined to say anything else. I wrote:

"_All bickering and jokes aside, is there anything else you want to know?_"

Already having enough time to think, Papa spoke right away:

"Why were you even on that ship in the first place?"

For this, I didn't even need to speak. Bruce answered:

"Bloody pirates, that's why."

I elaborated:

"_We all came from a relatively small village on the water. Since the village is also out of the way, not a lot of people stop by either. One day, out of the blue came a bunch of pirates. They probably had almost no supplies and were on the run, otherwise the town wouldn't have been worth invading. _

_The only way we were able to even survive is through trade over the water, so usually everyone who's part of the town isn't always there. That's another reason we weren't able to fend them off either. Those pirates came suddenly, we were ill prepared and they were __desperate__._"

Desperate enough to light up the village… my house… father… With me completely still now, Bruce decided to finish up explaining:

"After that mess, we hijacked the pirate's boat with whom was able to gets on with whoever they could get on tha ship. The rest ye should probably be ables to guess. After a whiles, we ended up at this 'ere island and everyone knows what happened."

The room was completely silent. Papa then asked:

"So you regret attacking the island?"

Thinking, I wrote:

"_Was someone hurt?_"

"What if I said yes?"

My eyes widened. Oh, no. No, no, no no nonoNO! Scribbling at the speed of light, I tore through paper:

"_is someone hurt - are they okay – I'm so sorry - *_grab_*_"

Halting my writing, Bruce said:

"What's you sorry fer? You're da one who mades tha plan in ther first place, of curse peoples gonna gets hurt!"

I bit my lip. A little more calmly, I wrote:

"_I know… but that doesn't mean they deserved that for being in the wrong place at the wrong time…_"

Now eyeballing my latest writing, Bruce asked:

"Does this have anythin' ta dos with yer father?"

Not answering, I looked at my half written piece of paper. This whole scheme reminded me of that day. It even sickened me, but it was the only way some of us were gonna be able to make it through for sure. Otherwise… everyone would die anyways. I refuse to let that happen. But the ends don't justify the means, even if it had to be done. Papa disrupted my trail of thought:

"I see… Since there was no guarantee that we would help you with your current situation, you did this. I must admit, that is something I agree with you on. Protecting your family comes before anything else, even if it means harming another."

Papa's mood seemed to lighten, as he explained:

"Don't worry about the injuries, there was nothing more than some bruises, some scrapes and light burns. Everyone caught up in the attack will recover."

Becoming serious again though, he said:

"However, I cannot let you go for terrorizing this island easily. Even if your motives were good, that doesn't change what happened. What will you do now?"

My gaze still stayed on the paper, and I wrote:

"_Can I work for you?_"

Surprised at what I was doing, Bruce asked:

"Seriously captain? Ya were only doing whats you had to, there's no reason to pay these buggers back fer what happned!"

Positively glaring at Bruce now, I wrote:

"_If we don't pay these people back for what we did, how does that make us any different from the pirates that attacked us? They were hungry and starving too._"

His face went red from anger and shouted:

"We're **nothin'** like thems blasted pirates! Ya hear me!"

"_I can hear you but what you're suggesting, riling up the town and walking away like it was nothing, _is_._"

Shaking with anger, Bruce balled up his fists but said nothing else. Turning my attention back to Papa, I asked:

"_Will working for you help compensate for what happened?_"

Eyeing me, he said:

"You sure you want to work for what's basically a mafia?"

"_I thought you people liked to class it up with the word family?_"

"Oh, we're a family. It's just family is always messy."

"_Like gutting a fish? You need the food, but getting it ain't pretty?_"

That last sentence seemed to make Papa pound the table a little in laughter and said:

"You sure have a sense of humor, but I guess that's right."

Almost confused by the statement, I wrote:

"_But I'm being serious…_"

Looking around the room now, I noticed how Bruce was giving me his scared face again, and everyone else was either doing double takes or inching away. What was scary about me? Bringing the attention back to the main subject, Papa said:

"Sure, you can work."

The man seemed to manage to shock everyone in the room, including a few noticeable characters like his daughter, this Nova kid, and even Bruce. Gasps were audible and tension was thick in the air. The few who weren't shocked were me, Papa, and the dude wearing the sunglasses while smoking. More than anything else though, he just seemed interested in something… *sigh* I guess this means I'm in for a whole new mess.


	2. Chapter 2

Following my acceptance to work in this nuthouse, I passed out at some point from what was a lot of stress relief and being awake for longer (reads as how many days?) than I should have. I'm fuzzy on the details due to running face first into my limits, but things seemed to be okay. There was nothing else I could do for the village except wait and see how things turned out, and that's exactly what I planned on doing. And getting some greatly needed rest.

It didn't feel real restful though. I felt like I was awake even though the only thing I remembered was inky blackness. Seemed like I knew I was asleep though. Weird.

Something even weirder then happened to me. Felt like I was being reached inside and lifted up. The whole thing felt strange beyond comparison to anything else I could think of, the only thing that could describe it was that the force felt cool. Not as in cold like ice, but cool like the sea I was always swimming in. That same coolness reminded me of one time that I swam on a summer night. Normally, something like that would be suicide, but the currents were extremely still, the water wasn't freezing and the moon was so bright you didn't even need a lantern. Like my own private paradise.

Now standing in the sceneless dream, that same feeling pulled at my joints and made me move through the darkness. This felt very other worldly, couldn't be anything else for a dream. My dreams often didn't make much sense, though they were often vivid. I guess this…ethereal feeling wasn't too far off the mark. Can't remember the last time I was aware of having a dream though. Almost suspicious really, but it's rather impossible to control a person in their sleep.

That's when I heard the voice:

"_You…_"

Immediately, I froze. A little freaked out, I looked around myself in a somewhat panicky manner. Fog immediately clouded my vision and felt nervous. The voice came again, and I was able to pick up the smooth tone this time:

"_What is your name?_"

It was definitely a feminine voice, sounding like it came from another world. The sound was layered, and reverberated like waves crashing into one another. Confused, I thought the answer like I would in a dream:

"_Levi._"

"_A gender neutral name though rather boyish, right?_"

That was an… unusual thing to say. But my dreams are usually strange, so this shouldn't be surprising. I guess it's because I've never heard this voice before, but why did it sound somewhat familiar then? *sigh* That's weird dreams for you, I guess… Giving up my logical reason so that I didn't wake up from my not entirely unpleasant dream, I thought:

"_Sure, whatever floats your boat._"

Amused sounding, the voice replied:

"_Hm, hm, using such a corny phrase, and making it cornier since you're from a fishing village? You've got some sense of humor._"

Thinking again:

"_Why do people say that when I'm serious…?_"

Skimming right over my comment, the voice said:

"_The fact it's only been three days since you've gotten off the God forsaken boat that practically saved your life makes this situation amusing too._"

"_Is the only thing you think about corny jokes by any chance?_"

"_Heavens, no. That's just the corniest thing I've ever heard someone say._"

I guess that makes some sense. Still standing in the fog, I stayed quiet for who knows how long until the voice spoke again:

"_Would you mind if I asked you some questions?_"

It wasn't like anyone would overhear me or something, I slept so deeply I didn't even move an inch while sleeping. Completely relaxed, I answered:

"_Sure, whatever._"

"_Do you say that a lot?_"

"_*shrugs* Meh, I'm just lazy when I'm sleeping._"

"_That's understandable. Do you sleep heavily?_"

Not even hesitating to answer anymore, I said:

"_I don't even twitch when I'm asleep, or so I'm told._"

"_Snore?_"

"_What part of 'I don't even twitch' are you not getting?_"

"_Ah, got ya. Athletics?_"

"_I'm not particularly strong, but I've learnt good aim from fishing, I'm a strong swimmer and consider myself fairly good at running._"

"_Why running?_"

"_It's very difficult to get anywhere on sand and I can run across it for a very long time._"

"_Anything else about that?_"

"_I used to haul buckets of live fish across sand almost every day. They liked to bite too._"

Finding that last part interesting, the voice said:

"_Oooh. Do you bait and gut fish?_"

"_When you live in a poor fishing village, the motto generally is you do it yourself or you don't get anything._"

"_That's a wise thing your dad taught you._"

The voice's knowledge of that shouldn't have surprised me. If this was a dream that meant the voice was me too, but it felt the need to ask all these silly questions. I ended up asking:

"_Why all the silly questions if you know?_"

A little angry sounding, the voice retorted:

"_I only have a vague impression of you, I need more time to know the fine details and talking helps a lot._"

This must have been the weirdest dream I've ever had. My turn to ask questions:

"_Why are you asking questions? Not these specifically, just why are asking questions _at all_?_"

I swear I could feel the voice grinning even though I couldn't see it as it replied:

"_I think you're someone I want to contract with._"

"_Again, I ask the _why_._"

"_*sigh* A bit stubborn with vagueness are you? That's not good…_"

"_Nooo. It's just that you seem to be sitting on plenty of info. If I can weasel it out of you just by talking, passing up such a sweet deal doesn't make any sense._"

Squealing, it responded strangely:

"_Common sense! I've hit the jackpot baby! *snort* Yeah, just go for people in the family they say, it's much better, bah! Inbreeding is what I say._"

That… definitely… wasn't me… An image of fist pumping even crossed my mind, good God. There are also some mysteries that shouldn't be solved either:

"_I'm not going to even ask where that came from._"

Curious, the voice asked:

"_Why?_"

"_Because it sounds like something that would give me an unnecessary headache, maybe injured or worse._"

More nonsense came from the voice:

"_This is solid gold. Oh, I can't believe how excited I am, it's so out of character!_"

"_Uhm, maybe you should, er, try relaxing then?_"

"_Oh. Oh! Right, just give me a second. *squee*_"

I sweat dropped and thought:

"_Take all the time you need…_"

Finally calming down the voice asked:

"_Just one more thing I want to ask you. Do you want a boyfriend or something?_"

Such an awkward sounding question, but I couldn't see the harm in answering it:

"_Um… Not particularly. If I find someone, that's great, but I'm not going to go chasing random people. Besides… The way things are now, I'll probably never find someone. Not if I want a future. So long as I can make the village happy and I can bring them home, I'm fine._"

"_Yet you're sad, aren't you?_"

"_…I guess so, but this is the price of responsibility._"

"_Even if it makes you miserable?_"

I basically retorted:

"_My first priority is the village. They're the last bit of family I have before I'm utterly alone. I'm the one that signed up for this, and I need to stick with it to the very end._"

"_You're stubborn, you know that?_"

"_When I need to be._"

Done asking me questions, and thinking, it eventually said:

"_A contract, that's what I'm here for. The why is you're fit for the contract. What a contract is, is an agreement like any other contract but with special conditions._"

It was confusing that the voice sounded so serious now. But I don't think it was joking. This was the second time it mentioned a contract. If that's really what it's here for then:

"_What do I have to do, and what do you want in exchange for my services?_"

"_Hm? Actually, what I want is a host for my power. In exchange, you are able to use that power based on your mentality._"

"_What do you get out of this deal?_"

A little more serious now, it answered:

"_Relief from boredom._"

"… _I'll believe that._"

Seemingly past all the unnecessary questions, it asked:

"_So, will you accept the contract?_"

Such a strange thing for a dream to ask me. There's no reason to turn it down, but I wondered about a few things:

"_That power you mentioned, could it help my family?_"

"_How so?_"

"_In any way. For food, money, even paying my debt to this mafia. I'll take anything, _anything_._"

The next phrase made it sound like it had a frown:

"_Even if it means inviting sadness unto yourself… *sigh* so be it. There's no way of convincing you out of it, I've seen this far too many times to even try._"

I nodded, no need for the run around. Wonder what dream powers I'll get, maybe I can find an idea to help them through this mess. The feeling of something waving goodbye flashed across my mind, when the voice said:

"_So, you officially agree?_"

"_*shrugs* Why not, it's just a dream._"

Amused, the voice responded:

"_Huu, hu, dreams and reality are closer than you think._"

-In the Morning-

Pace's POV

Guh, so hungry from all the running around town. Though it was three days ago, I'm still starving from all the exercise. Some of Luca's lemon pie would be absolutely heavenly, but I haven't been able to find the prude. I asked the maids about it, and they said he had been busy collecting and hiding herbs in his little science room. *sigh* Jolly probably decided to steal some stinky herbs without asking, again. And Luca was getting paranoid, again. Geez, what a vicious cycle. Food would be just the thing to brighten things up-

"PACE!"

Stopping immediately, I turned around to see a rather messy Luca (which hardly anyone ever saw) come sliding to a halt and yelling:

"There's big trouble with the tarocco! Papa wants as many of the major arcane in his office on the double!"

I had to think for a few seconds to absorb the information. For papa to call a meeting so suddenly like this, it must have been extra serious news. Still, work needed to be done:

"Right, just let me get a quick snack-"

Before I could escape, his gloved hand grabbed me by the collar while replying:

"Do try and think of something **other** than food for a few minutes Pace."

As he was dragging me off, I cried out:

"But I'll miss my third morning snack!"

"And our heads will go missing from our bodies and onto a platter if we don't go!"

Thinking about it, Pace replied:

"Will they taste good?"

Extremely aggravated, Luca all but screamed at the whining Pace:

"Be serious Pace!"

"I am!"

* * *

**AN/ I hope people like the story (despite lack of reviews...), and feel free to tell me if I can improve it. Read, review, and most importantly, enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3

With the family getting all riled up, you would think there was a serious problem on their hands. It actually was, to a certain extent, but at the same time a little ridiculous. Looking down at the boy lying in his pajamas on the floor, long hair messed up in a bed head and drooling somewhat, everyone would have laughed. What made the situation serious was that the toracco cards were strewn about the floor, all of which were facing down. Except, for one lone card that the drool was getting precariously close to.

Papa kept glaring down at the scene before him, obviously angry but confusion was also present on his face. Everyone was confused actually, more or less. A rather disorganized knocking came from the door, followed by especially messy blonde hair and sleepy cerulean eyes. The tan boy yawned loudly, then looked at the mess before him and asked:

"Why's everyone so nervous about someone accidentally knocking over the toracco cards? -*GROWL*"

The loud sound reverberated through the wooden office, surprising everyone, even the sleepy Liberta. He added:

"It just sounds like someone got lost on their way to the kitchen. Or maybe Pace chased him out…"

Behind him, Pace appear and responded in offence:

"I may like food a lot, but I always make exceptions for starving people!"

Scowling behind, Luca tried to make himself presentable before Papa and the (in his words) wonderful Ojou-sama. He said:

"Namely yourself."

Not happy and glaring at Luca now, Pace bit his tongue back. Luca was smarter when it came to fighting with words, and he'd just end up looking stupid.

Following up the duo, a man with dark skin and deep brown eyes (significantly lacking hair too) said:

"This is more than a case of late night hunger Liberta-"

Another loud stomach growl shook the air, drawing everyone's attention for a moment before Dante resumed:

"-though that might be a bigger part of the situation than I previously thought. But, the main reason everyone's on edge is because we might have a new Arcana member…"

Liberta was the only one who's eyes grew wide with shock, his morning grogginess dissipating and replaced with surprise. He blurted out:

"How would this guy even know about the Arcana? It may not be extremely secret, but outsiders rarely believe the Arcana powers to be more than a legend. And a lot of them don't know about them to begin with."

A familiar black haired man appeared now too, smiling an off smile that made your skin crawl as he said:

"The answer is quite obvious Liberta, you even said it yourself. This kid even came from a little village barely scraping by, with very few people ever visiting that weren't already part of it. He couldn't have even known anything about this in the first place."

Definitely not clear with the answer, Liberta asked:

"Why then? Why is he even _here_? Isn't there a special process for making a contract? Shouldn't this guy be conscious?"

Only frowning deeper, Jolly shrugged while Papa answered this time:

"We don't know. There are things about the toracco that we just don't know, and probably never will. That's why this whole situation is confusing…"

Done with looking between her father and the scene of the mess for the past 10 minutes, Felicita slowly walked over to the intruder, careful to avoid stepping on the toracco cards. Kneeling next to the drooling boy, she looked back up to her father to ask:

"Is it possible… that the card called out to the person?"

Shocked, everyone stared at Felicita. Most of the older faces grew hard looks, while the younger ones varied more, mostly utter shock, an analytical gaze, concern and last to say something, Debito appeared to say his peace:

"That's a pretty bold statement bambina."

Most everyone in the room wasn't surprised to see Debito suddenly appear. His power of invisibility allowed the relatively quiet (though extremely flirtatious) man the ability to disappear and reappear as he pleased, all without a trace left behind. Not even asking him when he showed up, Papa spoke to everyone:

"That… might have happened."

Without any other decent answer, everyone resumed their staring and internal questioning. As for Nova, his stare never left the snow haired boy. The card he was matched up with was suspicious to the boy. To be matched up with La Papessa, it seemed a little strange. Though not strictly male or female, the toracco tended to choose someone who's gender matched that of what the card typically leaned towards. Like Felicita and her Lovers card or Dante with the Emperor card. Though there were exceptions, like Sumire and the Judement card. Such a card was gender neutral and didn't lean towards either one. But the High Priestess… if he remembered his research correctly, some believed to be based off of Pope Joan. A woman that disguised herself as a man. The situation smelled like the rotten fish the kid must have associated with over the years to Nova, and he didn't like it.

-Levi's POV-

Why do I always have the most backwards-assed dreams? Like being questioned by myself? And everything made little to no sense what so ever. A contract… that bit sounded pretty serious. Ugh, stupid. This whole situation: stupid. Like the new voices ringing in my ears:

"Pace, you can't eat toracco cards! Who knows what they would do to you!?"

Another unfamiliar voice suggested:

"They'd probably give you a case of supernatural runs."

Protesting, a third voice spoke:

"But I'm not saying I'm gonna eat it! I was just wondering what they tasted like…"

The first voice asked:

"And if it tasted good? What would you do then?"

Not responding, the first voice harrumphed. Why this stupid conversation? Too lazy to say something, I waved my hand to make them stop. Bad move, because I was suddenly hoisted up which caused my vision to go black for a couple of seconds due to the blood rushing from my head. Unable to say anything, the only thing I could do was blindly search for the thing restraining my wrist and try to release it. That did squat as I heard:

"Nova, why did you just do that!?"

Nova? Hadn't I heard that name before… the conference room! What the heck **did** he just do? Nova replied to the voice that was talking about eating these toracco cards:

"The person was clearly awake! We can't just let them go after hearing all that!"

I thought: '_After hearing what now?_' The complete darkness turned to spots as the conversation continued:

"What if they were moving in their sleep? Don't people do that sometimes?"

Move in my sleep? I don't, even told the voice so. That meant… oh shit. As the spots cleared, I could see bits and pieces of the room around me but not enough to give me clue as to what was going on.

"Are you stupid Pace!? Do you have any idea what would happen if an outsider suddenly realized they had enough power to possibly level an island, one that they have absolutely no attachment to or even resent it!?"

Who hates what? My vision eventually cleared where I could see everything I needed to. There was what I recognized as Nova's sword stuck in the spot that a dude with wavy brown hair, golden eyes and thin glasses was holding me above by my arm. Even though it cut off the circulation to my arm, I didn't complain because a limp arm is better than being dead.

When I heard the sound of splintering wood, I used my other one to latch onto this Pace's arm. Like hell I was touching the floor while he still held that sword. Looking around the room, I saw the notable faces from before I passed out due to exhaustion along with a few new ones. My attention though, focused mainly on Nova seeing as his sword was unsheathed and pointing at **me**.

Inching closer to me, Pace backed up in the process too and said:

"Couldn't you at least wait until the kid got off me before you start this!?"

He was going to peel me off his arm? I gave Pace the most pitiful and terrified expression I could muster, and gripped his arm tighter as a way of begging him not to drop me. Might as well have already been minced meat because that was all there's going to be left of me if he did. With his own pitiful expression of guilt, Pace said:

"Can't you two talk this out?"

That's when things got stupid again. Almost everyone got these: "_Are you serious?_" looks, myself and Nova included. He spoke:

"He's mute."

"Oh… Oh!"

… Stupid. Almost glaring at Pace, I dropped that subject and kept my eyes on the real threat. I mean the one that was pointing a katana at me, not the mafia people armed to the teeth surrounding us ironically. My lord, the irony. Next, there was a savior.

Coming in through the door, someone I couldn't see (for obvious reasons) said:

"A lady is looking for you Pace, she's at the front doors. Something about lasagna?"

Face lighting up, Pace was absolutely ecstatic and Nova said:

"Don't you da-"

I was guessing Pace had a thing for lasagna because then the air was whistling through my ears, and Nova was screaming and yelling behind me. Not sure what amazed me more, Pace's love of lasagna or Nova's persistence to kill me. Well, I did know which one scared me more.

Already reaching the entrance after the myriad of colors that passed before my eyes, my stomach lurched a little. I didn't get seasick but something like this upsets my stomach? Or maybe I was hungry? Yeah, that was the more likely option. Still able to hear Nova, I continued to cling to the person who had saved me a little earlier (but I wasn't sure if he would do it again). The attempt was in vain because as Pace threw open those doors and I got thrown with them. I couldn't believe how strong he was in the microseconds it took me to collide with the wall.

Vaguely, I recalled a smack that must have shaken the house and might have broken some of my bones. The pain was so great I was numb. Even through that pain induced haze, I wondered if it would just be easier to let Nova kill me. Meh, they accepted my services and if they wanted to kill me too, that was just part of the deal. Wasn't my fault if I couldn't work for them in _that_ case.

It seemed that something on a higher plane of existence was pulling the strings of this reality to amuse themselves, because one of the last people I ever expected to see come through those doors was none other than Marlene. She seemed to have noticed me at some point that I didn't remember, because I saw her running towards me. Slowly, I thought: '_Marlene's nice. Thank god the world didn't get to chew her up and spit her out like measly fly._' Ready to let my consciousness slip into blackness, I managed to notice Nova coming in my direction before doing so. His expression still had that steely determination that was trying to kill me. If Marlene got in between us… No, I was **not **giving him license to be the world. When the world tried to hurt the people that helped me through hell and high water, the world got chewed up and spit out by **me**.

Forgetting the pain and the haze, I shoved Marlene out of the way (needed to apologize later for that). Shock appeared on his face. He shouldn't have been, this was nothing. Absolutely _nothing_ in comparison to that day. Launching myself at him, I grabbed his sword arm and squeezed a pressure point. He only winced, but dropped the sword regardless. With that little window of opportunity, I shoved _him_ down, down onto the cold tiled floor (seriously, that thing's been freezing my feet for four days now) and pinned him down so he couldn't do squat. Well, not including the dirty looks.

I breathed a sigh of relief in my head. Marlene was safe, just needed to keep the bastard in check. The bluenette seemed to notice me relax ever so slightly, because he started struggling against my grip. Annoying. About to dangle a loogie over his face, the all but forgotten Marlene noticed and said:

"You are not doing that disgusting trick while I'm in the same room. Pace! If you break those two up, I'll give you a lasagna on the house!"

Another thing I learned was that you **never** underestimate Pace's love of lasagna. Freakishly strong for a string bean, he lifted each one of us in the air without a problem while saying:

"Yes ma'am!"

In each of his hands, Nova and I dangled like we nothing more than sacks of potatoes that could glare at each other. Clearing her throat, Marlene caught my attention. It seemed that she wasn't starving since the dress she wore was filled out properly, and I didn't see bones I shouldn't have. The dress wasn't any fancier than her last but a heck of a lot cleaner, the white blouse covered by lots of brown fabric that reached her ankles. The color matched her eyes pretty well, and her skin had recovered it's healthy tan glow. She raised a skinny eyebrow at me, waiting for a reaction. I smiled for a few seconds and she knew exactly what I had thought:

"I'm quite glad I'm well too hun."

Then frowning, she looked me over and asked:

"Have you drank or eaten anything yet? You look even worse from the last time I saw you! It's not healthy to skip you meals mis-"

Shaking my head frantically, Marlene suddenly realized what she was saying and caught herself:

"-ter."

Not saying anything else, she looked at me for an answer. My gaze dropped to the floor. I could hear her go "tch" and didn't have to be psychic to know what face she was making. It's not like I've had a lot of free time… Sighing now, she added:

"I'll let it slide for now, seeing as you've been busy from what I've heard. Oh, and Pace?"

The oaf replied:

"Yeah?"

"You can put Levi down. I also need to tell him something."

Nodding, he put down while Nova practically yelled:

"PACE! Why the hell are you putting that pirate down and not me!? He knows too much ab-!"

While Pace put me down, Marlene grabbed Nova by the throat and spoke in her sweetest voice:

"Sweetie, you really should watch that tone of yours. Levi's been through a lot, and so have I. He may be a little tired at the moment, but I'm **not**. Don't think we survived that bilge scum called a boat for no reason."

As Nova went silent I flinched at that tone. It meant that Marlene was royally pissed and was ready to get her hands dirty if need be. Something about that struck me as suspicious though, because her fuse wasn't so short usually. That meant something must be up. Dropping her deadly demeanor, she went back to her usual cheery self and said:

"What a good kid you are."

Attention back on me now, Marlene looked at me for a few seconds and bit her lip. Oh gods, that always meat bad news. Back in the village, every time without fail that a fight was going to break out, a nasty storm was brewing or even if the food she cooked got burned beyond help, Marlene would reflexively bite her lip in response. Marlene's family was superstitious about her lip biting habit and went so far as to never take any sort of chance on days that she did so. Bracing myself mentally, I motioned for her to go on. Hesitant to tell me, she asked:

"What about them?"

Her hand gestured to the oaf and the paranoid psycho. In response, I rolled my hand forward and Marlene understood. Scratching her head, she responded:

"Guess they _will_ find out eventually. For such a large island, news travels like back in the village."

Marlene even sighed to further emphasize her point. Then, she composed herself to dole out whatever bad news awaited me. What happened was one deep breath later, the words came out of her mouth:

"Your mother is dying."

My hurt expression conveyed everything I thought. Like the plan as I had explained to Marlene earlier; '_saving people mistreated_'. Mom dying didn't constitute as saving. What Marlene asked on the ship flashed through my mind too; "_there is a chance for _everyone_ to make it if we follow through with this plan, right?_" "Right?" echoed through my mind. My answer stuck the most: '_The chances are exceedingly slim, but it exists._'

It existed. The chances of everyone making it through… Marlene, stupid Bruce, and definitely mom. _Especially _mom. She was my actual family, the person who gave birth to me for crying out loud! I-I-I din't want her to dies on meh… I wouldn't let her. I had to move. I won't let her go like dad. Grrr… LIKE HELL I WAS LETTING ANOTHER PERSON DIE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!

I ran off like a bullet, ignoring whatever injuries I had. The hospital could patch me up when I got there.


	4. Chapter 4

Marlene's POV-

For an injured person, Levi sure was able to run… But you didn't survive a load of bloodthirsty pirates for no reason. Her hearing was another story, or she ignored me, I wasn't sure which one was more irksome at the moment:

"Levi! WAIT! YOU AREN'T IN ANY CONDITION TO-… damnit."

Urgh, poor dear… That hospital is going to have their work cut out for them-:

"Would you please have Pace put me down, I can think of more productive things to do with my time than be sucked into this mess."

Attention back in place, I looked back to that midget from earlier. I asked:

"And you are?"

Obviously unhappy with me, he glared but answered anyways:

"Nova."

Huh, for such a mean squirt his name was nice. Past that though, I answered:

"Well Nova, if you want Pace to release you, you have to promise not to let Levi be captured again."

Still glaring, he spat back at me:

"And why should I have any obligation to do what _you_ ask?"

Sighing at his stubbornness, I felt vaguely reminded of Levi. But she wouldn't be this heartless to people in need. I wondered briefly if I should explain, so I consulted with the shop's number 1 customer:

"Pace? Would it be a good idea to explain?"

Nova was now glancing between the two of us while Pace shrugged. He asked:

"What? Why are you asking Pace that?"

The glutton Pace froze at Nova's question. Nervously looking at his tiny family member, he said:

"Well, uh, Marlene makes good lasagna and I keep my promises…"

Nothing short of furious with Pace, this Nova's face turned a good shade of red at the answer. Rather than let Pace deal with this, I intervened in the mess:

"By the order of lasagna, I had Pace promise not to tell you and the rest of your 'family' about a little heart to heart conversation we had."

Even the normally upbeat Pace frowned a little at the sad story it was. And it was a story that rivaled Shakespeare's tragedies, where everyone seemed to die at the end. No, I wasn't going to delve into that again. Speaking up now, Pace told me:

"Uh, Marlene? I heard that your Captain explained the invasion story the other day. When I was eating breakfast, I heard that someone named Bruce spilled the beans on everything."

I felt a vein or two throb when I heard the culprit's name. Did that rat have any shred of pride, or shame? First sneaking food, then this… If we weren't as lucky as we are, there would be a lot of dead people thanks to him. Shaking that thought away from my head though, I said:

"When I arrived at the island, I ended up falling down in the middle of a street from sheer hunger. The next time I woke up was in the restaurant of a person who worked on that street. Pace had brought me into the shop. Grateful as I was for him not letting me die, I told the glutton the real story if he wouldn't go around telling everyone. What I didn't expect was for him to ask the owner to take care of me in exchange for working there. Apparently I've got skill for making lasagna, and Pace likes to visit quite often… Though it would be nice if he paid his bill more often…"

Said glutton looked away when I mentioned his food debt, but I quickly moved on from that fact and finished:

"Point being we became close friends rather fast as a result."

With explanations said and done, I said:

"Now lest you plan on helping me with Levi, get your sorry behind outta here!"

This boy had some sharp tongue:

"You have no right to say anything! I'm sure you've already realized the family here isn't just any vigilante group, and we could have a very big problem with your so called 'captain'! I can understand if Levi is anxious over a sick mother, but it's not like both his parents are kicking the bucket!"

Utterly pissed, I felt my blood boil under my skin and unconsciously raised my hands to choke the blue-haired snake. It wasn't until Pace was using both his hands to restrain me that I realized what I was doing:

"Marlene! I know you're mad, but if Nova dies, Papa will be made at me too! As scary as you can be, that'll never compare to the hell Papa has at his call."

I blinked to clear my sight, but the anger remained. By the time I could think properly, I was yelling at the no longer hanging fool:

"Well I'm just so _sorry _that I can't be more sympathetic towards the little, blue **brat**! That child already lost his father to those damned pirates! If Izzy goes from getting sick due to that saltwater hell of a boat, it's the same thing! He-hhe"

My throat was closing up. I couldn't say it, I just couldn't. Why did something like this have to happen to such a sweet kid? Why?

Hot, steaming tears raced down my cheeks as I collapsed to my knees, burying my face in my hands. Levi… I know exactly how she felt. Losing people close to you like that, it just tears a great big hole in you. And watching them getting sicker with each day, hoping they would get better but never do, it must have been absolute torture. Being the only survivor of my family tore a big hole in my own heart, but I still kept plowing along. For everyone's sake… That's why I had to ask:

"Please… Help us, help Levi. Th-th-tha kid's ha-ad the h-hardest time out of us all. Ah-I du-don't know what we would do without 'em."

I couldn't even look up, or even choke anything else out. My throat was quite hoarse already, and I was doubtful the next I said would even come out remotely understandable. Imagine my surprise when I heard:

"… I'll help."

At those words, I had to raise my head up to see somewhat sympathetic deep blue eyes. There was also an infuriating pity as I heard:

"But I am mainly acting in the interest of my family. If it comes down to me killing you precious captain, I can assure you that I won't hesitate to do so."

Shaking my head, I added:

"I don't care if Levi is backwards-assed witchdoctor! Just…"

Out of habit, I bit my lip out of what must have been the plainness of how this was a very bad idea. But even I wouldn't be able to calm down Levi when she saw her mother- dear God! Shooting up like a bottle rocket, I found that Nova(?) was rather short but that wasn't the point! I nearly screeched in fear:

"Oh dear Lord, what did I do!? That hospital is going to be in ruins by the time I get there!"

Before the shorty could start freaking out too, I shook him and said:

"Run kid, run! You have no idea what Levi did after the death of Travis… Did you guys see all the broken crates and barrels on the ship? *forehead smack* Oh who am I kidding, this is a town of gossip, **of course** you already have. Well, that was all the captain's handiwork. Now HURRY! At the rate captain breaks things, he's liable to never finish working off his debt…"

That seemed to really motivate Nova, because he was already out the door… Seriously!? How do these people run so fast!? Ugh, must have been the pants. While I was still worrying about whether or not we would need to run away (again), Pace tapped my shoulder and asked:

"Um, Marlene… about that lasagna."

Looking behind myself, I saw the glutton giving me a face a hopeful puppy would make. Dear Lord. Well, there wasn't much I could do for Levi right now…

"*sigh* Alright sweetie, I'll make you something while I'm here. Where's the kitchen?"

Nova's POV-

By the time I had reached the sterile facility known as the hospital, I was out of breath. It took me a few minutes before I could even ask the clerk for which room Levi ran off too. As I approached the area she had directed me towards, something felt **very** wrong. It was somewhat reminiscent of when the "pirates" attacked the island a few days ago.

Upon turning the corner, I saw a rather familiar face. Surprised, I asked:

"Jolly? What are you doing here?"

The always suspicious man turned his head towards me out of surprise, shaking his greasy black hair in the process too. Surprise? Jolly? Something was most certainly wrong here.

Not saying anything, he just gestured towards the doorway and said:

"Take a look for yourself."

Almost reluctant, I crept towards the indicated doorway. Rather than one of the many often-sanitized rooms that made up most of the hospital, I only saw a doorway of blackness. That definitely wasn't normal. I interrogated Jolly:

"What did you do?"

"Hey, I had nothing to do with this, as hard as you may find to believe it. I came here to try and get more information out of the recovering patients here until I saw the convict that should still be tied up in the mansion. Pray tell, isn't keeping security risks wrapped up your job as leader of the Cups?"

I narrowed my eyes at the devil. Jolly may have been family, but anyone other than Papa couldn't trust him with a penny. Even I had reservations about the man's overall character. I retorted:

"Yes, which is why I'm _here_ and not at the mansion. And if you didn't cause this, then what happened?"

Jolly brought his hand to his face in thought and answered:

"I saw Levi run into this room just a few minutes ago. When I came over, the only thing to see was this."

I racked my brains over what was going on, and only one seemed possible. I hoped that it wasn't the idea that had been brought up this morning… Done staring into the dark pit, Jolly said:

"Since you're here on duty Nova, you ought to check out the room. I _did_ see the convict run in there. I'll wait out here just in case you're not capable."

If I wasn't used to Jolly, I swear I would have skewered him. Beyond his usual lackluster behavior though, I swallowed my pride and went into the room. As much as the whole thing must have been labeled "bad idea", with Jolly, he could make the right decision look like the lazy decision and get me into a mess of trouble with Papa. That was a whole mess that I didn't need for the excuse; "Nova was scared of a dark room." Anyone wanting to hear the excuse, it would be something like that, or worse.

Probably worse, I was dealing with the most twisted mind on the island.

After the first step I took in the darkness, I could feel my instincts yelling danger. Turning around to check that the doorway was still there, I instead found an all consuming blackness. Crap. One of these days, Jolly's nasty personality was going to bite him in the rear. No matter how much he dedicated his actions towards Papa… But for the time being, might as well do what I came here for. You can imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon a sunny beach all of a sudden. The hell?

It took a little while for my eyes to adjust, but eventually, I was able to see the scenery before me. A cloudless blue sky, white beach, shining water with just a little choppiness, it was quite a picturesque sight. But something was off about everything, it was just too… perfect. Upon closer inspection, I found no shells in the sand or even a rock. The waves had no foam, and there weren't any seagulls around here. Too quiet…

That was when I felt the ground lurch around me. I immediately fell on my face. Before I could curse at the pain, I heard:

"You got one! Hook it, hook it!"

When I looked up from the dock, I saw a tall guy with sandy hair and a short kid with a darker hair color next to him. The both of them were dressed in loose pants and shirts, all pieces of which had different colored patches sewn on. Another thing I noted while lying on the ground was that they were barefoot. Oh what a lovely sigh **this** was. Quickly getting up, I listened to the conversation the two were having:

"Now reel her in real slow-*splash*"

A good size fish appeared out of the water, the younger kid holding it up for showing. The man whistled and commented:

"Lady luck seems to be trying to make friends with ya today. We're going to be eating good tonight."

This made the kid beam, but the man just had to drag his pride into the situation and said:

"But you still have a ways to go, just watch a master and his art."

Lifting up his own fishing rod now, the bobber sunk below the water. Reeling in the catch, it popped out of the water, mouth just barely fitting around the hook. What a pathetic excuse for a catch. The kid next to him didn't even blink. Instead, he took the rod and threw the line back out. I guess the fish was half decent bait. Upset, the man shouted:

"Why'd you do that for!?"

Instead of answering, the kid put their fingers to their lips. Sniffling now, the man said:

"How could you be so cruel to your own father?"

He ran away after that, nearly knocking me over in the process too. I couldn't believe he didn't see me either… His kid gawked after him, not looking surprised. As a result, the kid noticed me as well. The first thing out of his mouth was:

"_Where'd you get the clothing from?_"

That voice, it wasn't a voice. Or at least, it couldn't have been a real one. The echoing words that sounded like they were being spoken through a long tunnel. That was the voice I imagined when reading that other kid's writing. Suspicious, I spoke warily:

"There's a tailor in my town… Is your name Levi by any chance?"

Surprised, the kid spoke in the same inhuman voice:

"_Yeah, did a librarian complain to you about me stinking up someplace with fish?_"

"… What?"

Shaking his head, he spoke:

"_Forget it. How _did_ you know my name?_"

I wonder how I'm supposed to answer that… Well, the truth of the matter was:

"Bruce told me."

Sighing unhappily, Levi responded:

"_Why doesn't that to surprise me?_"

Apparently done with the conversation, he went back to fishing. It was like I wasn't even there, strangely enough. That's when the next scenery change came. Right when I was sitting down on the dock, it was dark and the ground was cold. Again!? Well, there's worse places I could have ended up. Pulling myself off the ground, I overheard the conversation from inside the abode:

"*sniff* I can't believe you said Levi's catch was better than mine, Izzy… *sniff*"

That was Levi's father. And if he's talking like that… Looking through the window, the sight showed me something more horrifying than I expected. What I assumed to be Levi's mother hit her husband over the head and said:

"Considering the most you brought home was buckets of tears rather than with the first food we've had since the storm, do please **forgive** me Travis."

The only thing thicker than her sarcasm was the fear that was in the man's face. Levi just ate the food gratefully and solemnly looked up from it. It seemed like he was a quiet person anyways, despite being mute. Now eating his food without another word, the wife sighed in relief and sat down to eat her own meal. Mostly done with his meal, the boy glanced at the tension filling the room. He took out a fishing knife and worked on cutting something out of his fish. Curious, Travis glanced at his kid while his wife just ate like starving person.

Eventually, Levi pulled out what was a very tiny fish and ate it pretty fast. Gawking in amazement, Travis asked:

"I-is that what I think it is?"

Nodding with a smile on his face, Levi then belched. It surprised me somewhat that such a small person to belch, not burp, this was a lot stronger or so I had learned from spending time with Liberta, regrettably. This somehow managed to pull a smile onto Travis's face and his wife came up to say with a smile:

"I guess that little fish filled Levi up just enough."

Something about that was funny to Travis because he then started laughing. Broad smiles made their way to Levi and his mother, Izzy (probably short for Isabella). They then joined in on the laughter. Wow… All of them were just so… happy. It was rather amazing, despite being dirty and hungry, just being together… wow. With the scene before me, I couldn't help but compare it to my own childhood. It was different from this to say the least, a lot different. Not wanting to linger on such memories, I closed my eyes shook my head roughly. There was a mission at hand here and I couldn't let my thoughts get cloudy. I reopened my eyes to see a different scene in a bright morning.

Travis was not looking well with dark circles under his eyes and coughed very hoarsely, reaffirming my point. Izzy looked at him with a worried face and Levi was clearly older, like how he now looked. But whatever had made his hair turn white hadn't happened yet either from the looks of things. Noticing the faces around him, Travis grinned weakly and said:

"Dun worry about me *cough* bed rest for a week and I'll be fine, promise."

Not completely sold on the idea, you could see the unease rolling back and forth between mother and son. However, they didn't say anything else and got on with their day, while Travis seemed to reluctantly drag himself off to rest.

Refusing to let the boy out of my sight, I followed Levi and tried to talk to him again. Mind you, it wasn't easy chasing after him in all the sand. It was so fine that I actually slipped on it more times than I'd like to admit, and just gave up wearing my shoes. I can say with all certainty that I now understand why Levi was always barefoot around here, it was near impossible to walk in the sand properly with shoes. Despite the day saying otherwise, the sand was actually cold beneath my feet. Strange… Just letting my skepticism go, I figure that it was because the sun hadn't been out all that long. That might not have been the case as I later discovered.

By the time we were on the docks and I had recovered some breath, I was about to halt Levi from getting on the fishing ship but something else did so for me. Time seemed to do another skip and the battle cry of vagabonds, or more precisely pirates, filled the air. An acrid smell shortly followed, as well as the scent of something burning. Behind me, where there had been a shabby though content village, was now little more than a giant, burning pile of firewood. Either not noticing me or completely ignoring me, Levi ran to the village at a speed that I just couldn't keep up with in the sand. Apparently, I didn't have to as the scene switched before me, tripping me up in the process yet again. The only difference from the other times was when I looked up, I saw a scene of horror instead of happy memories. Levi was tossed out of a burning window sill, Travis visible while doing so. The next second, the area by the sill collapsed in a heap of burning wood. Turning himself around, Levi stared at the scene for a few moments. It was plenty of time for me to see the wide eyes, dry mouth, shell-shocked expression on his face, all the signs of utter devastation. Shakily getting up, he started to wobble towards the fire until Marlene and Izzy appeared, yanking him back.

Even then, he still feebly tried to go to the burning pile while Izzy kept crying about how she couldn't lose another person she loved and Marlene screeched obscenities about how he shouldn't sacrifice his life for a hopeless cause. However, the voices sounded distant, like they were in another place, just like how empty Levi's face was as he tried to reach the burning home.

He looked like he could scream right then. I think he was, but when he did try to scream, I didn't hear any sound come out. It was like his vocal chords were frozen, though they may have very well been, given the smoke in the air and personal shock the kid had just experienced. Tears then started to drip down his face in little streams, the shock of death finally setting in. It was quite scary to finally see one of the filthy pirates raiding the place suddenly appear, a knife in hand and grabbing Marlene from behind. The poor girl had a knife pressed to her neck while the man spoke in a hoarse voice:

"Nobody move er de lady 'ere gits it."

Marlene trembled in fear while Izzy looked at him in horror, tears still flying down her face and Levi was completely out of it. While I knew that the three of them survived the ordeal, that didn't mean I wasn't suspenseful at the scene playing out before me. The pirate noticed the fact that he was being completely ignored by the kid and yelled:

"Look et me while Imma talkin' to ya runt!"

I could swear I heard something snap when Levi suddenly got up and charged the pirate without warning, despite holding Marlene hostage too. He flinched from the impact almost immediately, and probably due to the surprise as well. In the panicked moment, Marlene managed to pry herself away from the pirate, Izzy catching her by the arm and ready to run at a moment's notice.

Levi however wasn't done yet as he wrested the knife from the pirate and proceed to… gut him like a fish. I couldn't bring myself to look at the gory mess. The sheer sound of what was going on nearly made me gag. Honestly, this was just… Shuddering, I shook the thoughts away from my head. It was better if I just didn't think about it.

When the sound of squelching blood stopped, I dared myself to look back at Levi. He was facing away from the now dead man, staring emptily at the ground. Marlene just stood there in shock, frame shaking. Slowly, Izzy made her way towards him. Wary with each step, she slowly walked over to her child. Reaching out to him, she shakily placed a hand on his shoulder and gently shook him. Levi didn't even flinch and raised his gaze to his mother's. Tears fell freshly, sadness so intense it even pained me to look on.

Averting my gaze again, I managed to catch the ground beneath me shifting hazily to something else. As I brought my line of vision up, I was greeted by a different sight. Open sea air, a rickety ship and starving people. Most were huddled around it in groups while a few had some fishing lines in the water, actual lines and jury rigged ones. They were probably lacking bait though, which brought the number of fish they could catch down significantly. The lack of life was very noticeable on the ship, but there was something else that caught my eye. A flash of white hair appeared at the edge of my vision, and I nearly pulled a muscle turning my head around as fast as I did.

The longer tips of his hair retained the wet sand color but the roots had long started to lose their coloring to the stark white that I had seen in person. It wasn't hard to guess that the shock of everything must have made him go grey early. But he was walking around the ship, checking the skies for weather first, then everyone else's health. Marlene appeared from behind me and came up to Levi, saying something I couldn't quite hear. Inching closer, I managed to hear the last few words:

"-we're not sure what it is exactly, but it seems to be going around the ship. Izzy also seemed to catch it after treating everyone..."

Concern passed across the boy's face quite quickly, and Marlene added in response:

"She's not bad, just tired and has a bit of a cough, but we really need to get to someplace that can really treat everyone. We both know just how fast that can go downhill and this place is not helping anyone."

Wringing his hands in response now, Marlene frowned and said:

"I know you're doing the best you can with avoiding the storms and all, but do realize we have a time limit here."

All the more determined, Levi left Marlene and went below deck. Probably to check on his mother…

Once again the scene changed but this time, there wasn't any scenery, just the inky blackness I had walked into earlier. On a hospital bed was Izzy, tucked in but seemed to be in perfect health. Crying into the covers was the younger Levi I had seen earlier, with hair color again. His mother rubbed his back with a sad look and said:

"You can't do this forever Levi, I don't belong here anymore."

He looked up into his mother's face like she had just slapped him. Levi didn't speak, but the strange tunnel voice I had heard earlier did:

"_How could you say that!? You're my mother, you can't leave me! I did everything I could to get everyone through, everything! And letting you go doesn't constitute as everyone!_"

Izzy smiled a little, and spoke in response:

"And you did fantastic dear, no one could've done better no matter how hard they tried. I'm very proud of you."

Crying even harder now, Levi grabbed his mother's hand like it would keep her from going anywhere. She continued:

"And I know you're father would have been just as proud too. Proud that you grew up into someone that could bear so much hardship, and keep on moving. And everyone's fine, thanks to you."

Barely audible, Levi responded:

"_No you're not._"

Not letting the smile fade from her face, Izzy responded:

"But I'm not part of everyone anymore."

Pulling Levi into a tight hug, Izzy said:

"I'll be sure to tell your father just how great you've become. I love you."

Suddenly, Izzy hit a nerve back of her son's neck, effectively knocking him out. Immediately after, the darkness started crumbling around us. The ground didn't shake so I was able to stand properly, henceforth seeing what was going on properly. The scenes from earlier flashed and cracked around us, along with others I didn't recognize. Izzy however, didn't lose too much of her lively appearance. Her warm eyes gained dark circles and skin paled considerably, but didn't look too terrible. It was definitely a disease if she was dying like that. For only the second time since I had been there, someone noticed me. Still, it was a different person this time.

Softly smiling, Izzy hugged her unconscious child, tears coming down her own face now as she said:

"Please, please keep my Levi safe. Please…"

With the last word, the world finally came back into perspective. Two people and a corpse were left in the room, the bed stained greatly with tears in a spot, air stricken with grief. It was difficult for even me to not cry. I could feel the cold sterile floor beneath my bare feet, like how the sand was.

Both parents dead from pirates, one from the onslaught and the other from the aftermath, while mine… even they didn't deserve something like that, much less Levi's parents.

At the thought, I gritted my teeth. All of this because of bloody pirates.

A stampede resounded through the halls and I heard a familiar, blonde dunce yelling:

"Did we make it -!? Nova?"

Barely even noticing the atmosphere in the room, Liberta continued speaking:

"Isn't this place supposed to be in ruins? Hey Nova, did you knock out Levi? Well?"

The big Dante appeared behind the buffoon and instantly understood. While he bowed his head, I turned to Liberta and answered coldly:

"The only thing left here is a funeral."

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait people. I've got cousins visiting and had to move out of my room for a while :P.**


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